The victims were humiliated, attacked and robbed in remote locations – now Austria's police have acted against the alleged perpetrators: 15 people were arrested in nationwide raids on suspicion of hate crimes.
According to police, a group of men and women is said to have deliberately humiliated, robbed and abused in Austria. In the course of a police campaign in several federal states, 15 people were arrested for suspected hate crimes. In one case there is even the suspicion of the attempt to murder.
According to the investigators, the alleged perpetrators mistakenly assumed their victims of being pedosexual. But: “Contrary to other reports, none of the victims is pedophile,” said Joachim Huber, head of the state of Styria.
There were 23 house searches in the nationwide raids – more than 400 police and special forces have been in use since morning.
People lured to remote places
The investigation came in rolling when several robberies were reported between May and July 2024 in the southern surrounding area of the city of Graz, the head of the Styrian Styria, Michael Lohnegger, told ORF. It turned out that it was not only “classic street robbery”, but rather about the most severe hate crime.
The suspicious twelve men and three women are said to have lured at least 17 homosexuals to remote places with fake identities on social networks. There, several masked people would have waited for the victims and severely abused them.
Abuse of the victims were filmed
The perpetrators were concerned not only to violate their victims, but also to deprive them and ultimately humiliate, said Lohnegger. According to the police, the perpetrators were more and more brutal – in one case there were even indications of an attempted murder.
The deeds were filmed and uploaded on the Internet in online groups. The investigators assume a high number of unreported cases in the number of those affected. During house searches, they not only found weapons, but also Nazi devotionals.
